In this project we plan to further develop our microfluidic droplet calorimetry platform to enable thermodynamic characterization of a wide variety and large number of biomolecular interactions. Having shown proof of concept of the technology, we plan to increase the sensitivity and throughput of the system to enable characterization of a broad range of reactions.
The aims of the project are to 1) achieve multiplexed high- resolution temperature readout for individual droplets, 2) increase the throughput of the system via automation of the fluidic handling and data analysis, and 3) demonstrate and validate the technique by performing calorimetric measurements of a variety of test samples. Taken together, these improvements will allow for a dramatic expansion of calorimetry?s capabilities and, further, make those capabilities more accessible to the scientific community.
The wealth of information emerging from genomics and proteomics efforts presents a significant challenge in determining the true functions of proteins and to identify the interactions among the cellular components that have been identified. While this effort has been aided by computation-guided strategies, quantitative experimental validation of the results remains a significant obstacle. In this project we plan to further develop our microfluidic droplet calorimetry platform to enable thermodynamic characterization of a wide variety and large number of biomolecular interactions.
